Pocket knives are commonly used by sportsmen, craftsmen and others who desire a compact, portable blade which can be safely folded and transported in a pocket or attached to a belt. Unfortunately, many of the folding blades commonly associated with these types of pocket knives do not have locking mechanisms to prevent the blades from inadvertently closing. Thus, the folding knife can be potentially dangerous to use if the sharpened blade inadvertently closes.
More recently, locking devices have been incorporated into folding knives to prevent the inadvertent closing of the knife blade. One type of locking mechanism known in the art is a “liner lock” which utilizes a leaf spring positioned within the cavity of the knife handle and which engages the heel end of the knife blade. The blade is typically released by the user by applying finger pressure to the leaf spring, thus releasing the leaf spring from the knife blade.
Another commonly used folding knife locking mechanism is a “back lock”, which utilizes a locking bar positioned along an upper edge of the knife handle. When finger pressure is applied to a rear portion of the locking bar, a tang interconnected to a forward portion of the locking bar is withdrawn from a cut-out “anvil” located in the heel end of the blade. When the tang is released from the anvil, the knife blade is allowed to rotate between a first extended position of use and a second closed position wherein at least a portion of the knife blade is stored within a cavity in the knife handle.
Unfortunately, with both liner locks and back lock locking mechanisms, it is possible for the locking apparatus to potentially become disengaged from the blade after excessive and continuous use. Further, the positioning of the liner lock and back lock are often difficult to locate with a user's fingers, and cannot be accessed on both a front and rear side of the knife handle. Additionally, these type of locking mechanisms require the use of a “stop pin”, which is positioned on a forward portion of the handle above the pivot pin of the blade, and proximate to an upper edge of the handle. The stop pin prevents the knife blade from over-rotating when the blade is in an extended position of use by directly contacting a heel portion of the blade.
Thus, there is a need for an improved folding knife locking mechanism which is mechanically simplistic, uses a minimum number of components and is extremely reliable to prevent the inadvertent closure of the knife blade. There is an additional need for a locking mechanism which is positioned to allow quick and easy access by one or more of a user's fingers on both sides of the knife handle, and which eliminates the need for a stop pin.